The present invention relates to electronic price label (EPL) systems, and more specifically to an EPL mounting device and method.
EPL systems typically include a plurality of EPLs for each merchandise item in a store. EPLs include displays which display the price of corresponding merchandise items on store shelves and are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of the shelves. EPL systems typically obtain their prices from the POS server's PLU file. A store may contain thousands of EPLs to display the prices of the merchandise items. The EPLs are coupled to a central server from where information about the EPLs is typically maintained in an EPL data file. The EPL data file contains EPL identification information, and EPL merchandise item information.
Customers find difficulty in viewing typical EPLs for two reasons. First, typical EPLs employ liquid crystal displays (LCDs), due to their low cost. However, LCDs must be viewed head-on. Reading difficulty increases as viewing angles increase. Second, typical EPLs have traditionally been mounted to shelf edges at a single orientation requiring removal and replacement if the shelf height changed. Otherwise, customers find difficulty in viewing items on the lowest and highest of shelves. Variance of customer heights complicates the problem.
Another problem associated with traditional EPL mounting methods is that they do not always facilitate mounting of store specific paper signage or other promotional fixtures.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an EPL mounting device and method which is capable of solving these mounting problems.